In a semiconductor manufacturing process, a plasma processing is widely performed for the purpose of, for example, etching or deposition of a thin film. In order to obtain a semiconductor which has a high performance and high function, it is requested that the plasma processing be uniformly performed on an entire processing target surface of a substrate to be processed.
In a recent plasma processing, a plasma processing apparatus using excitation of a process gas by microwaves has been used. The plasma processing apparatus irradiates microwaves generated by a microwave generator as microwaves for plasma excitation by using a slot plate having a plurality of slots formed therein. The plasma processing apparatus guides the microwaves for plasma excitation, which are irradiated from the slot plate, to a processing space by a dielectric provided between the slot plate and the plasma processing space.
However, in the plasma processing apparatus, it is requested that the uniformity in dielectric temperature be maintained in order to uniformly perform the plasma processing on the entire processing target surface of the substrate to be processed. In this respect, Patent Document 1 discloses a plasma processing apparatus in which a heating mechanism is provided in an outer periphery of a side wall of a chamber so that a dielectric is heated from a peripheral portion thereof by the heating mechanism.